Beyond the Roof
by Veralidaine-Salmalin
Summary: We're rating it PG13 just to be safe, cuz it has romance, killing, and things little kiddies can't understand. Anyway, Willa Shoran and Arram Draper come together in the first heroine book, in our opinions. It's written by two people, so if it doesn't flo


Disclaimer: We don't own any of the characters in this story, except Ceadr and Willa and the animals and stuff.well, we don't own Arram Draper, he belongs to Tamora Peirce. Lucky her.  
  
The sun was shining, and laughter was in the air, along with the faint smell of roasted rabbit and summer corn. Willa sat with her family on a blanket feasting in the summer sun. Her younger brother was enjoying chasing butterflies and foxes in the meadow. Merriment reigned supreme here, and no one objected the anarchy. The cardinals and chickadees piped their songs and the flies hummed, giving a floating sensation to Willa's head. This was happiness. But throughout the smiles and laughs, a chill came over Willa, so suddenly, that she started. The horn sounded. Hooves pounded the earth.  
  
"Willa, take Ceadr and run! Go to your father's workhouse! Go! Run!"  
  
"What's happening?" Willa shouted above the noise of the hooves. Suddenly a rider on a black horse came and swept up her mother. "Mom!" Willa screamed, as she grabbed Ceadr and ran. Another rider and mount blocked her path, but she ran under the belly of the horse, and escaped to her father's workroom, crying all the way. Ceadr, in tow, constantly yelled for "Mama and Dada". She saw people running: there was Maude, the Archer's daughter, Billy and Tamara, twins of the Baker, and little Mari-Anne, lost from her family, screaming and running in frightened circles before she was picked up by yet another rider. Arrows whirred by. Fires erupted. Still, Willa ran. The last words of her mother pounded in her ears: "Take Ceadr and go."  
  
"NO!" Willa screamed so loud she woke herself up from the all-too familiar scene that plagued her mind since the fateful day she lost her parents.  
  
Sweat drenched her being, and as she gained consciousness, she realized there really was hoof beats sounding. Realisation struck her, "Bracken, quiet, you'll wake Ceadr!" Willa told Bracken, the "shaggy pony" as Ceadr called her.  
  
"Too late, I'm up," Ceadr replied, somewhat groggily, "Your scream got me, Will." Ceadr's blond head poked up from the hard rock ground of "their" cave. At that pint in time, Lou poked up her own shaggy head, and her ice- blue eyes stared at Willa from their respective head.  
  
"Oh, Loudefer are you hungry?" Willa simpered her voice and made it babyish. She imagined Lou's smart, crisp voice speak to her,  
  
"Willa, don't kid me. You know very well I haven't eaten in days.the hunting's terrible here. Why couldn't you pick somewhere else, like the South?"  
  
Willa chuckled to herself as she scraped the deer they shot yesterday free of any meat. She knew that Lou didn't talk, but it was fun to imagine her speaking and she still somehow understood what the wolf meant, even if she couldn't fully talk to her. Lou stood up and walked away into the forest. Hunting, or patrolling, thought Willa. She glanced over at Ceadr, his blonde hair in his face, covered in soot from trying to start a fire. Lucky, lucky Ceadr, he didn't remember that day.that nightmare.  
  
"Ceadr?" Willa spoke quietly. Then she heard a rustle in the buses outside the cave. "Yes, Willa?"  
  
"Ceadr, do you hear that?" There it was again: footsteps, and the sound of Lou growling as if chasing a prey. Ceadr reached for his dagger, and Willa got her sling and some stones ready. No need to waste arrows, she thought. Through the cave, they saw a running form, a boy, it seemed. He was about Willa's age, and running through their camp. Lou was right behind him, driving him out of the forest. Willa set her time right, then.1.2.3.POUNCE! Willa jumped on top of the boy and they rolled, Willa ending up on top, pinning him to the ground. Ceadr drew his knife and put it to the boy's throat.  
  
"Who are you, and what is your business in our camp?"  
  
The boy replied in a southern accent, and although he appeared scared, not a single quiver was in his voice.  
  
"Your camp? This.is a camp? Oh dear." he spoke quietly and haughtily.  
  
"What is your business here?" Willa said again.  
  
"My business is my own and my name is not one I willingly give out to those who hold me on the ground with a knife to my throat like an enemy, or a common raider." Willa nodded to Ceadr, and he withdrew the pressure of his dagger on the boy's throat.  
  
"Very well, until you state your name and your business, you're coming with us, boy." Willa's words stung, but the boy didn't make a sound. There were hoof beats in the distance, Willa saw Lou react to them.  
  
"Please, I am no enemy to you." The boy quickly said. "I am an enemy only to those of no good. And unless I am mistaken, one of my enemies has followed me. You can hear the beats of his horse, and unless you have dealings with him, I suggest you hide."  
  
Willa frowned. "How do I know for certain that he is an enemy of yours? How do I know you didn't lead him and his beasts here on purpose?" She spat  
  
"You'll just have to trust me. Would a friend of the raiders have this?" The boy then lifted his shirt and revealed an ugly purple gash, travelling the length of his side.  
  
A small sound of pity escaped Willa's lips. "That is the bite of a razor- wolf." She named the horrible beasts that the raiders have trained to kill with their poisonous fangs and deadly claws. "I'm sorry. Anyone who suffers the poison of such a beast cannot be any friend of theirs." She spat the word out as if it hurt her tongue. "Ceadr, get off his throat. We've got to hide." With that she got off of him and held her hand out. The boy grasped it and Willa pulled him up. Willa shot him a fleeting glance then ordered Ceadr to get in the cave, she then followed, leading the boy. Lou ran into the forest at the sound of the hoof beats and Bracken followed. Soon the camp that had been busy a moment ago looked deserted. Willa held her breath as the hoof beats grew louder and fear struck her heart as she heard the horrible baying of the razor-wolves. She pushed Ceadr deeper into the cave and covered his small body with hers. The stranger positioned himself in a remote corner far from the door. Willa drew her sword and crouched, ready to spring at the slightest warning. The sounds of hoofs and the baying grew nearer and nearer, and just when Willa thought she'd have to leap out, they stopped. Willa held her breath. The foul reek of the razor-wolves coated her nostrils, making it hard for her to breathe. She hoped to Rea that the herbs that she made Ceadr and herself rub on their bodies and in their hair would confuse their scent. Rea, please, save us! Willa sent up a silent prayer. The three kids were silent, hardly daring to breathe. A loud voice called in a harsh language, the hoof beats started, going quietly in the distance. The stench left and the world suddenly seemed more wholesome. They just realized how cold and dark it seemed when the rider came. Just to be sure, Willa waited for the howl of Lou to tell her that all was clear before emerging. 


End file.
